Filling-head for bottling apparatus.



Nn. 658,2I0. Patented Sept. I8, |900.

E. E. FORD.

FILLING HEAD FDH BOTTLING APPARATUS.

(Application med um. 19, 1900.)

2 Sheets- Sheetv I.

(No Model.)

No. 658,2I0.

Patented Sept. I8, |900.

E. E. FORD. FILLING HEAD FOR BOTTLING APPARATUS. (Application ledMar. 19, 1900.) (No Model.) 2 sheetvshe'et 42.

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PATENT FFIC;

ELIOT E. FORD, OF RAI-IWAY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO HENRY JOHNSON, OFSAME'PLACE.

i'lLLl-Nc-HEAD FOR BfoTT-UNG APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 658,210, dated September 18, 1900.

Application filed March 19l 1.900. Serial No. 9,200. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom t may concern,.- A

Be it known that I, ELIOT E. FORD, atciti- Zen of the United stares, residing in Railway,

in the county of Union and State of New'Jersey, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Filling- Heads for Bottling'Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it .appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings'and to letters.

nished with some improvements whereby I have practically demonstrated that it is possible to iill a bottle or receptacle with effervescent liquid under pressure without generating the same into foam by means of an automatic valve which for present purposes forms an integral part of the filling-head,v

A further object of my invention is to eml body in my improved illingehead certain means whereby the cork orstopper of the bottle is prevented from being sucked down into the neck' of the passage by the action of the vacuum-pump.

As previously stated, among the principles governing the art of bottle-filling there are three that havealready been protected .and which are necessary in any process of this nature,-namelyirst, to empty the bottle of air,this being best accomplished by means of a vacuum-pumpsucking thi-il airout; secondly, to ill the bottle with the desired liquid by the aid of a charging apparaiuswhich exercises a certainpressure upon the liquid, and, thirdly,

to provide an escapevfor the gases which cause the bottle to be filled with more foam generated from the force of the inpouring ofv thel the bottle as an intermediate passage.

liqnidithan with 4the liquid itself. In other words, there ought to be provided a self-act# ing source ot' communication with the liquid-l supply reservoir so constructed that during the filling of the bottle anv equal pressure can be maintained continuously in a combined air or gas and liquid circuit commencing in thev liquid-reservoir and going back to it through This important point of furnishing a self-acting means for the legulation of thisv pressure,with y a consequent avoidance of the generation vof foam, I have provided for in my invention Aby aiding these gases to escape by their own exertion when their pressure during the iillfj.

ing of the bottle becomes so active as to till the bott-le with foam instead of liquid. This is an advantage over former inventions, where all such valves were manipulated by the operator, resulting in the apparent great disadvantage that in the iirstplace it was impossible for any operator to know at just what precise moment the valve ought to be opened, and in the second place how great the pressure was at such moment or for that matter y 'at any time during the filling process. This difficulty I have overcome in myimproved llinghead by furnishing a valve which will remainclosed so long as the pressureis equal on both sides of it; but the moment the in pouring of the liquid should. causeza sudden generation of gas the valve will open and f lead such gask surplusage back to the liquidreservoir. Itis infthefplacing of this'automatic escape or equalizing valve in the position it occupies in my improved filling-head, s

in'combination with the air-exhaust outlet andthe liquid-filling inlet, that this part of my invention yresides, resulting in the bottle being filled with a foamless liquid'.` f

In describing my improyed lling-head it will from the foregoing be readily understood that the operative means for raising` and low-` ering the filling-head, placing and removing the bottle, and minor details inconnection therewith forinnopart omyinvention and is, further, not necessary for the understanding of the functions of my improved llinghead, for which reason I shall not encumber the description with such details, merely indicating in the drawings a stand which can -have myimproved filling-head .attached `and that can be of any construction found suit- Aable to the circumstances and that can be operated in any desirable manner.

In describing my invention I shall call attention to the accompanying drawings,wh ere in like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the different views.

Figure l shows a vertical side view sectioned through the central axis of ,the iillingi head; Fig. 2, a sectional detail view of the automatic equaliZing-valve as seen when` looking at Fig. 3 in the directionof the arrowr X; Fig. 3, a top view of parts as they arel shown in Fig. l, and Fig. 4 a diagrammatical View of an entire bottle-filling system.

cask C at C, and A8 a gas-return vent so constructed as to `contain an automatic Avalve embodied 1n the spring-actuated valve A, 1

which will permit a return `of the gases Zback `to the filling-cask C at C2 when an over-pressure of such gases should arise Vduring the iilling of the bottle D. The filling-head A has a mouthpiece or nozzle E, which mouthpiece iits over the aperture of `the bottle l). In alinement with and leading vertically and directly down to the bottle-apertureis a `passage-Way E', which isfunnel-shaped at the top and constructed to contain thecork D. Resting on this cork is a plunger F,said plunger passing through a cap G, resting on top of the orifice A5, the upper part G' of 1thecapGr formed 'as a stuiing-box, having Vto that yeffect -a rcollar Gr2 iitted snugly into the `part G. The plunger further passes `up through a yoke I-I, and being screw-cut at the top protruding through the yoke is secured thereby an'ut Il. An expansion-spring 'H2 is coiled around Jthe plunger, exercisinglits expansive power between the yoke I-I and the'stuiling-collarG The cap G has on its underside, where it convtacts with `the lip or circular edge A of the 5 orifice A", a disk G3 of some `soft resilienzt matter, such as rubber, so as to make 'anfai tight connection. Taking `for an example the position in which Athese parts are shown in Fig. l, the filling-head A `has by well-known adequate means been adjusted over the bottle l), the interior of the mouthpieceE being fitted similar to the interior part of thelcapG and for `the same lpurpose with a disk of soft resilient air-,tight material, and '-theLcapfG has, after vthe cork D has been inserted, been The part of the adjusted over the orifice A5. passage-way E lying between `the cork D1 and the cap G is consequently air-tight, Aso that when the vacuum-pump is applied toexhaust the air from the bottle `it will not suck the cork down into the neck of fthe passage, the cork being held in its place by reason of said part of E beingmaintained ai1tight`fby means of the above-described means.

Proceeding now to the description of theA end lof a rod I.

J pipe A7.

vacuum-vent A, it will be seen .that its communica-tion with the `passa, .,feway E lis con; trolled by a valve I, said valve secured to the The shell A7 of lthis part of the filling-head A-is constructed with a stuiling-box, the collar J forming `the upper part of such stuffing box. Lying on topI of this col# lar J is a coiled expansion-spring operating between the stuiingcollar .l and a collar I3, `secured firmly to or formingan integral part of the rodl. The top part of theI rod I' is by a pin I4 pivoted to a lever-arm I5, said'lever-.arm being ,.pivoted to a link l, which in turn is pivoted in a lug I7, forming part of a vertical arm I8, lying in prolongation of the A depression on the lever-arm I5 in the direction of 'the arrow Y w-ill open the vvalve I downward, and consequently establish connection with the vacuum-chamber B, while the removal -of the operators hand from the lever-arm 15, aided by the action -of the expansion-spring I2, 'will lbring the valve I back to its seat, 'and consequently fslrut oft connectionwith the vacuum-channber T he connection with the Iilling-cask C is by means oi' :the stop-cock L fitted into the vent A2. This stop-cocik L is operated by elevating a `leverar1n L' vfrom the horizontal position it is in in Fig. l to a vertical position in the direction of the arrows Z' and Z2.

T'hereremains now to be describedthe thi rd vent A3, having the automatic escape-valve xed -in it to relieve -an vover-pressnre of the gases. As'this lies Ion the rear side of the illing-head A, as sa'fd head is `observed in Fig. l, Aa detached Adetail View looking at `the filling-head :in the direction Iof the arrow X in Fig. 3 is given. It will be seen in lexamining `said figure 'that communication with the main passageway E is through an open ing K ,such opening fbeing closed bythe va-l vespring M2, coiled around the valve-rod M', exercising its expansive power between a d-isk MS, `fitted rrnljy into the pipe-vent A3 and the valve-*head proper. It will thus be seen vrihatthe main vpoint lies in the fact of this Valveopera-ting automatically, and I attribute my success in filling the bottle with liquid not generated into foam `to the fact that as it is impossible for any manipulator of a `lilling-head to know precisely when andwhat amount oi' gas will be generated in the bottle a manipulated valve is useless. If, on the contrary, a valve is constructed sellfeacting, then the gases will escape at accurately the exact fraction of `a second and in just the necessary vol-u'me `to relieve the infflowing liquid of its `overpressure.

Reviewingnow pheentire operativemethod of a bottle-filling apparatus las illustrated `in Fig. 21, yWhere Aa bottle-filling stand having my improved filling-head attached has been illustrated Vin `the left-hand side of the illustration,

it `will be seen that if a cask Ccontai ning some eervescent `kind of liquid is attached by a pipe O' to the filling-vent A2 and a charging Ahead M. This is effected by an expansion-- TIO pressure apparatus P is connected by a pipe O2 with the top of the cask and a pipe O3 connects the pressure-escape-valve vent A3 with the top of the cask C, and finally a pipe O4 connects the vacuum -cylinder B with the vacuum-vent A', then if the position in which the elements are delineated in Fig. l be as- I sumed to correspond with the'position of the filling-head and bottle asseen in Fig. 4 the cork will have been inserted, and the space between the cork and the cap G being airtight the vacuum-pu mp B can with safety be applied by pressing down the handle I5, and after the closing of the vacuum-valve the 1ever-ar'm L is manipulated,V permit-ting the influx of the liquid, aided by the charging apparatus P. If now, as happens in seve'n out of ten fillings, the gases which permeate the liquid rush down into the bottle and are permitted to remain there, the liquid will be converted intor more foam than solid liquid and a manipulated escape-valve may or may'not relieve the pressure at the right time andfor the right length of time, Whereas if an automatic valve, as the one furnished by me, is placed at some point in the filling-head,

Wherever it may be found most practical to have it, such over-pressure will immediately relieve itself and permit a continuous flow of solid liquid.

In conclusion, I do not Wish to bejunder stood as claiming, broadly, an escape or re lief valve for bottling apparatus as manipulated by hand in various of the bottling apparatus of the present day; but what I will claim, and believe I can claim with my present knowledge of the state of the art, is Ja self-acting or automatic relief and escape valve in combination with any ordinary tilling-head, and, secondly, the means for preventing the sucking down of a cork. during the process of emptying the bottle of its air` preparatory to filling it.

What I as a consequence in harmony vvitli the above description and statement claim, and desire to secure protection for by Letters Patent, is

1. in a fiuingtead for @bottling oriiquidfilling apparatus having a cushioned nozzle f for the apertureot the bottle or apparatus, a valvercontrol'led vacuum-vent, a valveacontrolled liquid-filling vent; the combination of an automatic escape and relief valve With said filling-head, substantially as and for the purposes described.

' 2. The combination with the filling-head of stantially as and for the purposes described.

4. In a filling-head for bottling apparatus having a cushioned nozzle for the aperture of the bottle, a valve-controlled vacuum-vent,

a valve-controlled liquid-filling vent and a passage-way for the insertion of a cork furnished With an adjustable air-tight-iitting cap; the combination of an automatic escape and relief valve with the said filling-head substantially as and for the purposes described. In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand this 29th day of January, A. D. 1900. i

ELIOT E. FORD.. y

Witnesses:

JOHN DABNEY, AUGUST M. TRnscHoW. 

